Meet the Future of Food: How Current Is Helping Kick Produce Production into High Gear

• LED grow lights + automation = growing densities “not seen elsewhere” in the industry
• Fifth Season farm has lofty goals for higher yields so everyone can have fresh greens

Up to 1 million pounds annually of amazing, non-GMO, pesticide-free food using 97% less land and water to produce it—can you imagine it? Thanks to Fifth Season and GE Current, a Daintree company, there is a new standard for year-round fresh greens made possible by a powerful combination of robotics and LED grow lights.

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Located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fifth Season is a technology-fueled vertical farm with production aspirations matching the steel mills that surround it. This controlled environment agriculture (CEA) outfit features 60,000 square feet of end-to-end automation with minimal human interaction. A model of smart manufacturing, Fifth Season has a goal to produce the highest caliber and volume of predictable crop yields and knows LED grow lights are key to that success.

“We want to make food accessible to everybody and that takes superb design and engineering support,” says Tim Morgan, automation manager for Fifth Season. “Selecting grow lights is one of the most important decisions you could make from a hardware design perspective.”

That’s why Fifth Season selected Arize® Life LED fixtures from Current for its budding operation. Highly versatile and scalable, the lights are available in nine different spectrums for encouraging specific plant responses. Already the lights have helped Fifth Season achieve a faster time to harvest and increase crop cycles since being installed less than 24 months ago.

“We are seeing growing densities that I haven’t seen anywhere else in the industry,” says Morgan. “This is allowing us to deliver fresh crops to customers faster and live up to our mission of solving the world’s most pressing problems with thoughtful action and the latest technologies. With a boost from Current’s LED fixtures our goal of 1 million pounds of fresh greens this year appears within reach.”

Arize LED horticulture lights from Current are popular among growers with commercial ambitions. The full Arize portfolio has options to power greenhouses and indoor farms of industrial scale. Included are solutions for covering large areas with fewer fixtures that are designed for the type of dense growing environment Fifth Season aims for.

Like the pioneers who depend on them, Arize LED lighting systems represent a new era in CEA focused on smarter farming, faster growth and modern approaches for harnessing the power of light.

For Fifth Season, the future is bright thanks in part to LED lights that help grow healthy, good-for-the-planet produce. Read the complete story of this forward-thinking farm at gecurrent.com and learn more about how robotics and lighting innovation are combining to deliver less waste and more freshness.

About GE Current, a Daintree company:

Current enhances commercial, industrial, city and specialty applications with advanced lighting and intelligent controls. Working with our partners, we deliver the best possible outcomes for our customers. See why Current is always on at www.gecurrent.com.

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